Wrightsville Beach is to Raleigh (home of North Carolina State) what Ocean City is to Baltimore. A place to get away to the sand and the ocean for the weekend, if not a vacation. A place where it seems like the majority of folks on the beach are wild for the Wolfpack of North Carolina State.

Check out these shorts hanging on the rack of a local beach clothing store in Wrightsville Beach. These folks are crazy for their Wolfpack.

N.C. State (as the locals refer to the North Carolina State) fans were buzzing at the beach this past weekend about the prospects of Debbie Yow leaving the University of Maryland to become the new athletic director of NC State (what the locals call it).

On Friday the school held a huge press conference announcing that the North Carolina native was leaving Maryland after 16 years as its athletic director to become the new AD at North Carolina's state university in Raleigh. Cheerleaders, Mr. Wuf (the school's nickname is the Wolfpack), other NC State coaches and even the ACC Commissioner were on hand as Debbie Yow was introduced as NC State's new AD.

"If you're a State fan who is sick and tired of the way things have been done for the past two decades or more, your wildest dreams just came true.," said Star News ACC Insider Brett Friedlander in his column.

"She's a tough, straight-talking leader who would rather win championships, graduate her athletes and work within a balanced budget than finish first in a popularity contest. As Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams will attest, it doesn't matter whose toes she has to step on to get the job done."

While some critics of Yow's time in College Park say that's exactly why the time might have been right for Debbie Yow to move on from the University of Maryland, some folks down in these parts on Wrightsville Beach believe it is the same reason NC State couldn't have landed a better person for the job in Raleigh.

Yow brings an impressive resume with her from UMd to NC State. 20 NCAA titles, a major reduction in the athletic department's debt, building of Comcast Center, Byrd Stadium renovations are just a few of her accomplishments at Maryland. No to mention the school's current athlete's graduation rate of 80%.

The folks I've been talking to on Wrightsville Beach are impressed not only by all of that. They are also impressed with Debbie Yow's ties to a pair of the biggest names in NC State athletics lore. Kay Yow and Susan Yow.

Her late sister Kay is a legend in these parts for her 34 run as the Wolkpack's very successful and inspirational basketball coach. He sister Susan is considered one of the best women to ever play basketball at NC State.

The Yow name is synonymous with winning at North Carolina State.

As Terps fans turn a page and look to new leadership in their athletic department, these NC State fans on the beach here along the southern coast of North Carolina in the heart of Wolfpack country couldn't be more thrilled to have Debbie Yow to talk about as one of their own as they relax on their beach this summer.